1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mailbox assembly in general, and in particular to a rural mailbox and to the manufacture of several auxiliary components for the mailbox and includes methods of assembling the auxiliary components onto the mailbox and of packaging the mailbox assembly.
2. Background of Information
Mailboxes for rural delivery of mail generally have either one or two indicator flags, one flag for indicating to the mail deliverer that mail is present in the mailbox for pick up and the second flag for indicating to the mail recipient, from a remote location, that mail has been delivered.
Some examples of rural mailboxes having one flag indicator means are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,754,918; 4,771,941; 4,805,834; 4,840,307; 5,273,207; and 5,094,386. Examples of rural mailboxes having two flag indicator means are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,390; 5,092,517; and 5,119,986. Some of these references disclose a mailbox with a flag indicator which is automatically actuated upon the opening of the mailbox door for indicating the delivery of mail, and some of these references, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,173 and the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,986 disclose a mailbox having all plastic components. U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,173 discloses the mailbox components as being separately formed and made of a plastic material, and the latter U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,986 discloses the mailbox components, such as the sidewalls, floor, and roof, as being unitarily molded of conventional plastic material.
Most of these rural mailboxes are either bought by the consumer in an assembled form or are bought in a disassembled form where the several components may be individual pieces which are packaged and shipped for assembling by the consumer.
A disadvantage may exist when the mailbox is in a disassembled form in that as the several components are individual pieces and not connected together, these pieces can easily be lost or the appropriate number and/or kind of component necessary for the assembling of the mailbox can easily be excluded from the package so that it may be impossible for the consumer to assemble the mailbox.
Ideally, either some or all of the several mailbox components should, in some fashion or the other, be interconnected with each other so as to avoid these instances from occurring.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,013,308 and 5,207,966 disclose methods for molding several elements, but in each of these references, the elements are not used for assembling mailboxes and are of the same kind of element. That is, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,308, the element is a dispenser fitment and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,966 the element is a blind rivet.
There is, therefore, a need in the an to provide a mailbox and/or a mailbox assembly whereby all of the auxiliary components including an indicator flag are certain to be provided for the assembling of a mailbox by the consumer.